I was trying to write an article (following post) with the relevant data, in trying to do so, I discovered that the last test's 2nd innings is only the 2nd instance where two batsman have scored fifties in the same test innings!

There are many 40s, a hundred and a fifty in a few cases, or a hundred and a 40 plus innings. But, no 2 fifties in the same innings.

We need to improve our overall goal, consciously or unconsciouly. You would notice that our average total in tests is only around 180 odd and sometimes when in good spirits, our standard target seems to be around 250 odd runs.

So if we can improve our individual batsman's overall goal to be a few runs more, say by 50 plus runs to the total, then we can at least show some competitiveness at the test match level, than what we are doing now.

You may have noticed that since the beginning of our test status, our batsman have been scoring at a rate of 180 in each innings on an average - during the times when Aminul Islam and Akram Khan were playing. Currently, it is understood more or less that the absence of Habibul Bashar has left a big vacuum in our batting line up, two debutants in Nafees Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed has also played a small part in our total going below from 250 to 180.

The easiest, he most logical and the most stable way to improve is to improve one step at a time. In the recent test series against New Zealand, you have seen that in the first three innings, we just could not get out of the pressure and were scoring at a rate of 180 in total on a regular basis; and that only a couple of innings by Mohammad Rafique and Tapash Baisya together had a major contribution in our target to go above that landmark.

In which partnership, the conscious or the unconscious individual target of Tapash Baisya seemed to be a fifty. Now if Dav Whatmore can put it in our minds that scoring seventy plus is what our individual target should be, not only a fifty plus innings, among whether our players are either experienced like Habibul Bashar, or experienced but young like Rajin Saleh and Mohammad Ashraful, or debutant players like Nafees Iqbal.

If Dav can achieve this simple target and inject it in the minds of everybody invovled in Bangladesh cricket, from those who are currently playing to those who will be playing for the Bangladesh national team in a couple of year's time, then scoring 300 at the test level and may be 200 at the ODI level could become a regular feature of the Bangladesh team.

And if our bowling stays the same as it is now, then our results will improve gradually over time. We may not be able to win with such low scores most of the time, we will also not be humiliated most of the time. As a result, our overall result's percentage could also go up in the long term.

Since the year 2003 in tests, Bangladesh have crossed 250 in 7 innings and have passed 150 in 13 innings

If our current batsman's individual scores were 70-plus innings, instead of 50-plus, then the totals could have been a little different. It must be noted that those innings where only one batsman have scored one fifty, or none at all, then things would not have changed much, but what about the test matches where more than one batsman scored 70 plus runs?

Let us look at the most recent tests first. Javed Omar's 78 in the 2nd test 1st innings may not have helped much, instead of the actual 58 runs that he had scored, but the two fifty plus innings by Khaled Mashud (51) and Tapash Baisya (66) might have improved things a little bit. So together in both innings, Javed Omar's 78 adding to Khaled Mashud's 71 (instead of 51) and Tapash Baisya's 76 (instead of 66) would be totalled at 494 runs instead of actual 444 runs in the match.

Ofcourse, this would not mean anything for us at all, since we would have lost to New Zealand by an innings margin anyway, but just think, if the individual target is 70, and not 50, then wouldn't the other players' individual scores be higher than their actual scores?

Let us look at a good example when our players did score two fifties in one innings to the England test match at Dhaka last year. If Hannan Sarkar had scored 79 instead of 59 and if Habibul Bashar had scored 78 instead of 58 in the 2nd innings coupled with Khaled Mashud's 71 instead of 51 in the first innings, then may be we could have been a little more competitive than we actually were in that test. After all, we lost that test by a margin of only 7 wickets, and set England a target of 164 runs. Lets see hypothetically what could have happened. Other batsman's scores remaining the same, the first innings totals would be 223 and not 203, and the 2nd innings totals would be 295 instead of the actual 255. Well, if that could have been the case, then we might have taken a few more Englad wickets than we actually took. Again, the result of the match could not have been different, but also, may be on another day, another time, we might have the reason to believe to win another match.

It has been said time and again that just one win could change us, our team forever. So if we could improve on our overall objective, then may be we have a better chance of winning some day rather than now.

There are many 40s, a hundred and a fifty in a few cases, or a hundred and a 40 plus innings. But, no 2 fifties in the same innings.

A little confused. By a fifty do you mean scores between 50-59 or 50-99 ? In the latter case there is the second test against Pakistan last year where, in addition to Omar's 119 Bashar scored 97 and Ash 77

A 96 is indeed a fifty. However, obviously, fw is categorizing scores higher than 69 separately, in the 70+ category. Her analysis here points to the problem of our batsmen collectively scoring lower averages.

Originally posted by fwullah
The easiest, he most logical and the most stable way to improve is to improve one step at a time...

I liked this expression... It's basic idea is 'Patience'

It's not immediate Test or ODI wins that shud be our target(I know even many fans here will call me a traitor whn I say that... but we fans shud be patient also..).
rather looking at the basic problems and try to solve them first and in that way trying to make our team competetive.
Wins will start coming automatically when we play competetive cricket.

In another thread here I tried to point out how much 'Impatient' our top-order batsmen are (they only try to play strokes!)

Sometimes I really wonder what happened to Dav's theory of 'Individual Developements/Improvements' which fw is basically talking about here.
That sense in the players did really improve Total Team Effort at the beginning of Dav's coaching Era.
How did it disappear??